


Baby Diary - Seventh Month - Catch Me if You Can

by mistressterably



Series: No rest for the wicked [24]
Category: The Thick of It (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, kids being kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-25
Packaged: 2018-12-06 20:43:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11608581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistressterably/pseuds/mistressterably





	Baby Diary - Seventh Month - Catch Me if You Can

It was a beautiful summer day with no rain in the forecast so Malcolm had decided to give Dani the day off. 

‘Really, Malcolm. You need a day off more than I do.’ Dani protested as Malcolm worked on packing a picnic lunch. ‘At least leave Alastair here at home with me. Take the girls and let them burn off energy.’

‘You think that the girls would let me out of the house without bringing the lad with us? Really?’ Malcolm scoffed at the idea.

‘I’m sure we could convince them.’

‘I’d like to see you try that, love.’ Malcolm chuckled. ‘Look, take the day to enjoy it on your own. Read, have wine, just relax. I’ll wear the girls out in the park. And then maybe… ‘ Malcolm rested his hands on Dani’s hips, pulling her closer. ‘If the girls can go to bed early and the lad sleeps long enough we can have a bit of adult time.’

‘Malcolm,’ Dani rested her hands on his chest. ‘We are not going to try for a fourth.’

‘Fuck no!’ Malcolm reacted immediately and accepted the smack on his arm for his cursing. 

‘You promised.’ 

‘Sorry, you shocked me with that idea of a fourth.’ 

‘That’s agreed then. No fourth child.’ 

‘Agreed.’ Malcolm sealed the agreement with a long kiss that was interrupted by a drawn out ‘ewwwww’ noise from Gracie.

‘Oh, you two.’ Mia clucked and helped Gracie up into her seat at the table. ‘Get a room.’

‘Mia!’ Dani shot a look at her daughter. ‘Where did you pick that up?’

‘Billy at school said that to Damien in the playground when Damien was kissing Alicia. The playground wardens got upset at that too. I told Damien he wasn’t being polite.’ Mia primly sat at the table. ‘I told Damien that he should be more like daddy.’

Malcolm had to fight back a laugh. Dani gave him a smack on his arm again before asking Mia what she meant by that. 

‘Daddy treats you properly, mommy. He doesn’t just go around kissing you in playgrounds like that.’

‘Daddy kisses mommy in the kitchen!’ 

‘Kissing mommy in the kitchen isn’t polite.’ Mia decided.

‘Daddy,’ Malcolm hugged Dani a little more tightly, ‘Will kiss mommy anywhere in the house he wants to and it is not impolite for me to do that.’

‘Unless mommy says no.’ Dani laughed back at him and tugged his hands apart and away from her waist. ‘And for that, I will definitely take that day off you offered. Girls, daddy is going to take you to the park today.’

‘The park! I love the park! Is the petting zoo open?’ Gracie asked.

‘I’m not sure if that’s open but we’ll have a proper picnic.’

‘Alec loves the park too!’ Mia was getting excited. ‘Alec is coming too? Right?’

‘Of course Alec is coming.’ Malcolm smiled. ‘First though, breakfast.’

‘Park day!’ The girls remained excited and bouncy through breakfast. Dani disappeared at the sound of Alastair waking up and wanting his breakfast as well.

‘Da da!’ Alastair brightened at the sight of his father when Dani brought him downstairs. ‘Da da!’ His little hands went to grab for Malcolm who was quite happy to take the lad from Dani. Alastair pressed his face against Malcolm’s cheek, cooing happily. 

‘Park day, lad. You want to go to the park with the girls?’

‘Da da.’ Alastair’s hand got hold of Malcolm’s ear to tug on it and try to pull it to his mouth.

‘That’s daddy’s ear, lad. Not your chewie.’ 

‘Girls, let’s get you ready to go while daddy teaches Alec what ears are really for.’ 

An hour later, Mia was pushing the stroller with Alastair happily smacking at one of the fish dangling down from the top bar. Gracie held on tight to Malcolm’s hand as they walked the blocks to the nearby park. 

Malcolm laid out the large blanket on the ground as close as he could to the swings and sandbox. It was a beautiful day and other parents had brought their children to the park as well. Many of them knew Mia from school and the gang were soon chasing and playing. One of the young boys had also brought a football and most of the children got involved with kicking it around. Gracie was in the mix of the youngsters, more to chase the other players then to actually kick the ball. The older boys soon tired of having the younger kids getting in the way and with the permission of their parents they headed to the ball field to play a more structured game of football. 

Mia decided to stay with Gracie and play in the sand box. Alastair sat on the blanket with Malcolm to happily play with the toys they had brought with them. He had on a blue hat to keep the sun from his eyes but the boy wasn’t happy about it and kept trying to swat it off. 

‘Alec! Look! We got a castle made!’ Gracie waved at her brother to get his attention. ‘Look!

The little boy recognized his sister’s voice and looked up from the toy blocks he’d been cracking together noisily. Malcolm rubbed the boy’s back as he sat there. ‘Na!’

‘That’s Gracie.’ Malcolm told him. ‘You say Gracie?’

‘Ahsee’ Alastair reached out to his sister with his hands.

‘Alec!’ Gracie knelt in the sand waving to her brother.

‘Ahsee!’ The boy toppled forward onto all fours. 

Alastair had been practicing his crawling at home and had managed a few feet only so Malcolm was easy about the boy crawling about on the blanket without a worry. 

‘Ahsee!’ The boy lurched awkwardly forward a few ‘steps’ and lost his coordination for a moment. 

‘Up you get, lad.’ Malcolm reached over and helped the boy back onto his bottom. 

The boy wasn’t fazed and got forward onto his all fours. ‘Ahsee!’ 

Suddenly, Alastair found his coordination and was scooting quickly towards his sister. ‘Whoa. Hey, lad.’ Malcolm had to get up quickly but his son was already off the blanket and halfway to the sandbox. 

‘Alec! You’re crawling!’ Mia got up from the sand castle to stand with Gracie. The girls cheered on their brother to keep going. Malcolm caught up quickly and hovered just behind Alastair.

‘Ba!’ Alastair’s hands got out of sync and he slid forward onto his tummy in frustration. His little hands thumped against the ground until he got himself back up and moved forward. 

‘Alec! Come play!’ Gracie held out her hands towards her brother. 

More confident now, the boy made it the rest of the way to his sisters where they hugged him in congratulations. Malcolm sat down beside the kids, grinning. ‘We’re going to have to keep a close eye on you now, lad. Speed like that is going to have us running to keep up.’


End file.
